The Relationship Between COVID-19 And Periodontitis Severity: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Objective: Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is a severe acute respiratory infection. The severity of symptoms and mortality rate vary according to age, gender, and other existing systemic diseases. Periodontitis is a chronic inflammation, and it has relations to other systemic diseases. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between periodontal disease and COVID-19 severity by retrospectively evaluating patient records and periodontal status. Methods: 344 patients were included in the study. The severity of periodontal disease was determined as healthy, mild, moderate and severe according to National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) criteria. The COVID-19 severity was grouped as asymptomatic/mild, moderate and severe according to whether the patients required hospitalization and intensive care. Kruskal-Wallis test was used for independent samples between gender-age-periodontal status and gender-age-COVID-19 relationships. Results: The mean age of all patients was 36±13; the mean age of those with systemic disease was 52±15, and the mean age of those without it was 32±9. The mean age of those with systemic disease was greater than that of those without it (P<.001). The relationship between systemic disease and periodontal status was corrected for age, and since no statistical significance was observed (P>.05) There was statistically significant relationship was observed between COVİD-19 severity and periodontal status (P=.029). Conclusion: Periodontitis and the severity of COVID-19 increases, regardless of systemic diseases and age.